Buying centers and emerging developments: the SME perspective

For your marketing

Possible founder application

Treat this as evidence for the specific b2b growth and sales question studied. Compare the setting and sample to your company before changing a growth decision; use a local experiment where the paper does not match your context.

Reported result

What the study found

Collaboration and exchange among buying-center members are more effective than competition/power struggles. Virtual/hybrid relations require greater intra-group cooperation; diverse backgrounds and collaboration support flexibility and performance. Technology increases certainty and automation but can create overload and biases, requiring analytical ability and clear decision responsibility.

Research question

What the authors investigated

How do emerging developments, including virtual/hybrid relations and technology, shape interactions, flexibility, and performance in SME buying centers?

Design

Qualitative multiple-case research of manufacturing SMEs; five Italian companies were selected to represent diverse stakeholder characteristics, practices, and policies, with selection continuing until issue saturation.

Sample and setting

Five Italian manufacturing companies/SMEs and their buying-center stakeholders.

Scope and transfer

Limitations to keep in view

Only five Italian companies were studied. The authors call for research in other countries with different cultural and socioeconomic conditions and using other methods.

Research sources

Direct publisher record verifies exact title, authors, DOI, journal, year/pages, qualitative design, five-company setting, findings, and explicit limitations; the article is marked available to purchase, so this is abstract-level evidence rather than verified full text. Correction notices were not separately verified in this collection; consult the current publisher record before applying the findings.